Rigondeaux for a long time was just above 122lbs on fight night. He was 130 for Loma. Hopkins used to weigh about 168 on fight night. Big deal was made by the HBO guys when he once weighted more than that. Nonito Donaire rarely put on any weight during his super-bantam and featherweight runs. Freddie Roach has said it often, that the weight doesn't matter as much. Of course draining down has it's advantages in size, but it takes a toll on the body. So even if Manny is 144 on fight night, it means he still is comfortable. He can just train and finish the camp without dieting. Without dehydrating his body.
Oh absolutely. He is around 150 around fight night. He can definitely make 135. Heck, if he wanted to, he could even go a bit lower. But the point is that is it worth it? Yea, he will have a nice size advantage for a change, but hoe will it affect his body? Making weight is a mother****er, especially at his age.
Rigo usually weighed in around 127 for his fights at 122, so man was still draining. And Rigo is naturally small 122 as well. Donaire stopped draining and look at what happened? He got wrecked by Walters and Frampton, he's a prime example actually. At 115-118 he was wrecking guys like Darchinyan and even in his last fight he looked to overpower his opponent. Bhop was draining to make 160, guy eventually ends up LHW. Bhop was also a gym rat, don't surprise me he was shredded year round.
I used to drop 8-10lbs for fights. Sure I don't feel as fresh, but I'd sure rather be punched by a guy 2 weight divisions below than up all things being equal. Put this into perspective, Pac went into wars with Morales and JMM, he got tagged a lot and not once did he complain about them being too hard a hitter. Because they were of equal size. Meanwhile, far lesser fighters like Thurman and Margo hits him at WW-JMW and he felt it, he couldn't stop talking about how heavy punchers they were and that he did not want to stay at JMW because of that. So getting hit by guys 2-3 weight divisions than the division you and your competitors would usually be fighting at is definitely a disadvantage in that regard. The only advantage I see for him at the higher weights is speed. The bigger guys simply aren't used to that type of speed.
Hopkins weighed in at 156 for De La Hoya and 157 for Trinidad. On fight night he was almost always below 170. So how exactly was he draining himself? He wasn't dropping 15+lb before the weigh in like Chavez Jr. And Rigo being 127. Well you yourself said: So Rigo didn't really drain himself. And Donaire, even at 122 was still overpowering his opponents. It's at 126 that his physical attributes failed him. A former flyweight.
Fully agree here. The biggest advantage is making that weight. It allows him to be at his best, even tho his opponent will likely have some physical advantages. But Manny has proven that overcoming reach disadvantages is nor problem for him. He was able to adapt his game. Dude is a beast. Meanwhile you have someone like Chavez Jr. whose best tool was his weight advantage. But when he met a better boxer, it didn´t pay out(Well, he almost got to Martinez in the 12th). And at 175 it was evident that he lacked the skills to compete with guys his own size.
Ye, my point with the fight night weights is that they're not entirely accurate. If you wanted to appear a small guy you would weigh in without clothes, if you didn't care you'd being weighing in with your keys and sunglasses. We don't know exactly. Floyd used to weigh fight night, trying to present himself as the smaller guy, then he stopped doing it when he couldn't do it anymore. My point with Donaire still stands, he would need to be a couple of weight divisions below his fight night weight to be at his most effective. If he's weighing in at 130-135, he's most effective at 118-122. If he fought at his fight night weight, well he loses any power advantage he had. Besides, you seriously can't think Pac has any advantage in fighting at WW vs say JWW? Even LW, Pac only had 1 fight at LW and he looked devastating there. IMO his absolute best weight is 135-140. Fk knows why he stayed at WW.
I think 140 suits him best. It wouldn't take any effort for him to make it. At 147 he doesn't need to make weight, he is already there. At 135 things can become iffy. Dude is 40 years old and would have to dehydrate quite a bit. I remember them trying to move him back down to 140 at some point(Avacoda Man Algier?), but then said **** it as the Mayweather bout was back on the table. I still rank tactics and skills above anything. People say Paul Williams would have given Floyd and Manny hell. But then you look at Williams' welterweight bouts and you see much shorter guys having an easy time getting around that reach. (Williams had no idea how to use his advantages). Pakau, Mitchell and Matthysse completely exposed his biggest flaws.
Pac is 5'5.5" and Loma might be 5'6" Showtime has taken accurate measurements of Pac during the Mosley fight. HBO's often cited 5'6.5" is not correct. I might him at his concert after the Clottey fight in Dallas.....he is absolutely carny midget. Unlike Pacquiao, which i know for a fact, i cannot be sure about Loma but im guessing he's an inch shy of the 5'7" they list him at. similarities end there. Loma's fists, wrists, calves, thighs are not in the ballpark of Manny Pacquiao. I won't look up the exact article, you can google it easily, but Pac's wrists, calves and fist are something like 0.5'' shy of Wladmir Klit's measurements.... And as i've said in previous threads.... everyone says that Pac's ideal weight is 140lbs and he would have an "easy" time making it. How come he didn't fight Bradley, Algieri, Matthysse, Jesse Vargas, Rios or Marquez at 140lbs?? Those guys were DESPERATE for fights with Pacman. 140 or 147 didn't matter one iota to them, they would have agreed. There's a reason.
I can't imagine Pacquiao making 135 in recent years. Sure, he weighed around 150 in the ring, but then so did Mayweather, but I highly doubt he could make 135 anytime in the last decade either. Some people can cut and put it back on whereas some are happier and healthier to fight in and around their natural fighting weight
Think people need to remember that when Pac was at FW or SFW, that he was HUGE at this weights. He was weighing in the 140s in the ring when he was fighting at 126
He was coming in at 138 at 126, the same as MAB/Morales. He wasn’t huge, he was average. Fight night weights are not weigh-in weights. The FWs are weighing 135-140, the LWs 140-150, the JWW 145-155, WWs at 155-165. Fight night weights are compared to other fighters in the weight division fight night weight.
